


Call of the Wisps

by MewMewPsychic



Category: Ori & the Will of the Wisps, Ori and the Blind Forest
Genre: No censorship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29885280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MewMewPsychic/pseuds/MewMewPsychic
Summary: Dawn breaks as the the blue light burn away the last of the screaming apparitions that had haunted the forest of Nibel. However, deep within Ori's dreams, the monsters continue to scream and claw and scratch at him for reasons he cannot fathom. Life should have returned to normal and yet, it did not, the events of the Blindness having consequences far more reaching than the small spirit could have ever imagined.The darkness that invaded Nibel at its bleakest hour came from somewhere and the failure to take the forest will not have gone unnoticed. Meanwhile, an ancient being reach the end of their life, the ritual starting anew and the call sent through the world for all to hear.Ori stirs and turns in his restless sleep. Childhood draws to an end and with it, the simplicity of youth. Ori must now learn how to walk on his own, without a glowing sphere to light the path forward for him, lest he be led astray and be forced into a destiny not his own.And to think he thought his journey over!
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	Call of the Wisps

**Author's Note:**

> At long last... this took a lot more time to get started than I thought it would.
> 
> So! This is the big rewrite of Call of the Wisps, many months in the making. Artwork is not included in this version but every chapter will be far more detailed, akin to the original arrival chapter. In fact, due to chapter length and the details involved, the original prologue will now be in several parts.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this new version. If you have any comments or questions, ask away and I'll make sure to reply as soon as possible.

**=/= CALL OF THE WISPS =\=**

Prologue : Aftermath

_As the dust settles and the dawn breaks, the horrible apparitions fade, like a waking dream._

_As light filters, the distant echoes of people and a living land continue to ring, fleeting dreams._

_Both dreams and nightmares have vanished, leaving an empty land._

_Nothing to greet me but thoughts and memories of a dead world._

_The role of the hero slide off my shoulders, nothing lies below._

_I thought it a heavy burden, now I find myself lost._

_I may breathe but I realize I am nothing but a moving memory._

He had been convinced things would return to normal. The forest was saved, after all. Everything was sunny, everything was beautiful, food had returned, the water rebecame pure. But the old routine did not come back. It could not.

Mom is alive again. Gumo helped her. He had asked if the Light Vessel could help Fil, Ano, and all of the others.

The gumon had bent down and then, put his hand on his shoulder. "Listen to Gumo, Ori. Light Vessel is a marvel of gumon knowledge, capable of recreating the miracles of the ancient spirits but its reach is still finite. It cannot help those who have left this world for too long. Ori's kin have long left this world, leaving only trees. Their Light and their memories live on inside Ori, now."

And so he had learnt that like Sein, Gumo could not help them. And that was the other difference from before. Ori once would have taken that wording and taken it as it was, without pain and without dark thoughts.

But now, Ori knew he meant that they were dead.

Ori had never really been lazy and enjoyed stretching his legs. But before, the reason he didn't like sleeping much was because he always looked forward to new days.

Now, he hated sleeping because every time he closed his eyes, he heard them. And the pain returned.

That piercing pain, deep in his gut, and that dryness in his mouth, gripping and squeezing every part of his body, weighting it down. A feeling of impossible exhaustion and weakness, the world spinning uncontrollably. Crying to a forest that didn't care, empty of anybody who might hear him. The home he once loved, now a twisting nightmare that attempted to swallow him. And then those hard stones, on which he felt his head smash.

That agonizing crawl, desperately seeking help of some sort, only to end up on that ledge, the ledge. The ledge that haunt all of his nights.

That emptiness that gripped him, that surreal sensation as the world became simultaneously impossibly dark and yet, impossible bright... Absorbing the Light of so many of those who had fallen had taught him what that feeling had been.

Ori knew death when he saw it. He had experienced it.

"What happens when somebody dies?" He had asked, in tears, while the skies outside were still dark and his mom cradled him.

"My baby..." He still felt the love in her voice but the feeling of safety had vanished. He hated that he didn't feel safe anymore but he had seen her die. He had seen the darkness claim her and destroy their home.

He stared at her and she saw his pleading eyes. And he could tell she saw this, too. He was a mere child. He should not know of such things. He should not ask about such things. Yet because of what had happened, he had experienced things one so young should have never lived through. Every night since the Blindness, Ori had awakened in cold sweat, often crying or screaming. It was becoming obvious that it would never stop. And thus, the spirit begun to wonder, trying to understand.

"When someone dies, it is like going to sleep. They fall asleep and then never wake up. And then, they go to a better place."

He looked down, his antennas drooping in front of his face. Was it really so simple? He wanted to believe her. He wanted so much to just believe her. To plaster a happy, innocent smile on his face and to just go with whatever she had told him.

But he remembered the ledge and he remembered the memories of Fil, Ano, and the others. The agony, the tears, the claws and spikes and blades and fangs and poison and drowning and crushing and pain and fear and the screams and the pleas for mercy and the helplessness. And mixed to it all, his own death, agonizing and slow.

"It's not like going to sleep. It's not! It's not."

And she had nothing to say to this. And as he looked into her face, he hated the upset, helpless frown. He hated helplessness on the faces of others. He had felt like this before. He never wanted to feel like this ever again. He didn't want anybody to feel like this.

And when he saw that he had made her feel this way...

"It's okay, my Ori. It's okay..." she spoke gently, cradling him in her arms.

"I'm sorry, mom. I'm sorry! I shouldn't have asked. I just..."

"No. It's okay. Don't be afraid. Your mom is here for you, my little Ori."

Days and nights passed and things changed so much. Things just couldn't go back to the way they were before. He remembered trying to ride her, to follow her through the woods like they used to. He remembered how happy he had been with her.

But... it wasn't the same anymore.

Had she always been so slow, so devoid of curiosity? His body was bursting with energy and even more than before, he just wanted to push himself, to explore every nook and cranny, to see everything. Naru had told him to wait up, so many times. But there was more to it. She seemed... not so brave anymore? He remembered cradling in her arms when thunder echoed outside and it got scary. Being afraid of small drops. But after the Blindness, after facing Kuro and the armies of monsters, after running away from giant falling stones and raging waters, he didn't see anything worth being scared of anymore in the peaceful woods around him.

The Spirit Tree had burnt all of the darkness away and he found himself wanting to see the world. While he could use never encountering a monster ever again, he found that he... he actually kind of liked jumping, running, and scaling things. He found himself constantly wanting to push himself. He felt the currents of Light with his antennas and he recognized patterns where he saw none before. He wanted to run. He wanted to jump. He wanted to see the world and scale the highest peaks. He couldn't just stay on Naru's shoulders and just look for food anymore.

And sometimes...

He stopped by that hill and he looked at the Spirit Tree. And he wondered about his home.

The gumon are gone, Gumo is alone. His tribe is also gone, the great underground city just as much an empty ruin. The Spirit Tree bloomed, bringing forth new spirits. Are they his brothers and sisters? Will they restore Nibel?

... he never thought he'd feel alone again, reunited with his mom. And yet, he felt alone.

He didn't know much of anything regarding the Spirit Tree or Sein excluding what little tidbits he had caught from Sein during their adventure. She clearly loved him but why, he did not know. Was she connected to the Spirit Tree? She did introduce herself as the voice and Light of it, whatever that meant. He remembered the way she had almost sobbed in relief when he had found her, cracked in that bush. He remembered how she promised she would protect him and blasted all the bad guys away. How she'd light up the way for him when it was dark, warm him up when it was cold, brush herself against him whenever he cried and was scared. How she'd encourage and congratulate him whenever he managed to clear a hard jump, how she'd cheer him up when he messed up.

Why had she cared so deeply for him? The memories he had witnessed of Naru's past and Sein's words of spirits living thanks to the Spirit Tree had confused him even further.

He now clearly realized that he wasn't like Naru. That he was like them. Those whose Light he had absorbed.

Why do his kind become trees when they die?

... he doesn't want to be a tree.

After a few days, as he sat by the big stone on the hill overlooking the Spirit Tree, Ori begun to realize that the entire situation felt awkward. He is supposed to have saved the forest, right? At least, this is what everyone told him. He just remember Kuro ambushing him when he was about to return Sein to the Spirit Tree.

He remembered the air punched out of his lungs, the panic. He cried, he pleaded for mercy... or at least he tried to. Given Kuro crushed his chest in her claws, he found his pleas dying in his throat and becoming pained gurgles. Sein's screams of horror had died with a deafening crack not a moment later. After learning that his kind become trees when they die, he had spent much of the journey crying out that he didn't want to become one as he ran from the scary and dangerous things that had tried so, so very hard to kill him. Lying down in a pool of his own blood, he had become convinced he would become one, that he would never see Nibel safe again. His mind had swum uncontrollably, nightmares gripping his body as he bled out.

Somehow, he had awakened to find out that not only had he been healed but Naru lived, Kuro had redeemed and sacrificed herself, and everything was just fine.

He had just sat there, saw as the Spirit Tree bloomed and then released new glowing leaves, which sparked and formed into beings who... who... looked just like him.

"I don't understand..." he whispered to himself, sitting on the stone, looking at his own hooves, antennas drooping. "What happened that day? I need to know."

He's sick of being scared. He's sick of crying alone in his basket bed every morning. He's sick of looking at the world and feel that it's unsafe and scary. Two sides of him exist now and he can't cope with the horrible clash. He can't stay with Naru and yet, he wants to be comforted so bad.

He need answers.

"My baby..." Naru said, one morning, as she saw Ori standing on that stone, by that hill, silently gazing at the Spirit Tree in the distance.

Neither she or Gumo knew what to do. They thought that Ori's condition would improve, that he'd return to his laughing, happy self a few days after the final events of the Blindness and yet, he only stood longer and longer, more often and more often on that rock, staring at the Spirit Tree. He no longer laughed. He no longer smiled. He woke up in tears every morning. He kept asking questions children should not ask.

"Mom, I need to talk to Sein." Ori said. "I really need to talk to her."

"My baby, I'm sure that the Spirit Tree is very busy with rebuilding the forest. Beside, your new siblings need attention and-"

"Siblings?" Ori asked. He glanced back at her and her heart broke as she saw the confused desperation in his eyes. "They are my siblings? How? Who's my real mom? My daddy?"

"Listen my baby. Why not just play a game together? I'll go get uncle Gumo and-"

"Why did you hide me from the Spirit Tree's call that night?"

Utter and complete silence reigned between the two. Naru just stood there as Ori stared at her, the both of them deathly still. If it wasn't from the wind causing the branches of nearby trees to sway, one would swear time had just stopped at this very moment.

"I just want you to be happy." Naru's voice was breaking.

Ori felt bad, he felt so bad hearing that tone. He had hurt her. He didn't know how but he had. He wanted to smile, to pretend nothing was happening. To just do as he did the other days and nod and try to play along. But the questions kept pilling up and he felt crushed under them. He couldn't handle it anymore.

"Why are you so scared? Do you think you'll never see me again if I go see Sein? Sein never hurt me. Does this have anything to do with Sol and Eki?"

He clearly saw Naru cringe. "My baby? How...? Where?"

"I saw the ruins of Black Root Burrows. I saw their memories. Your father took you away from them. Why?"

Naru bit her lower lip. "Ori, my baby, please..."

"Why are you scared? He can't take me from you. He's dead. I saw the memories. I-"

"ORI!"

He never expected her to raise her tone, never like this. Sure, she had raised her tone a long time ago whenever he had been naughty but never this loud, never sounding... scared.

"Listen. Thinking about the past will change nothing. You just got to be happy right now. I'm here. You have a new uncle. Nibel is beautiful. You just have to be happy and not think about any of this."

Ori's antennas drooped again, his frills lowering. He sighed loudly and long. He wanted so much to do what she told him to do but...

"I tried..." he mumbled.

"Ori?"

"I tried. But... I can't. The memories... they're too much. I know nothing, I understand nothing. I can't sleep. I feel it again, mom. I feel it again! Every night I close my eyes and I'm on that ledge again. It's... it's so painful. I'm so alone. And I feel tired, so tired. And it blend with their memories. Spikes in the gut, claws on the torso, spines piercing the neck... and I-I-I feel all of those monsters' attacks all over my body again."

He felt his right arm, trembling from the memories of so many razor vines, spikes, and monsters claws and fangs and spines spilling his blood.

"I hate sleeping now. And though I haven't seen a monster since that day, I keep expecting one to jump out of the bushes. I know you say they're gone... but I keep being afraid of it. I need... I need to talk to Sein. Please."

He frowned sadly at his mother. "Please, mom. I need to..."

Slowly, ever so slowly, Naru approached him. Oh, she wasn't intentionally being slow. It's just that he realized that Naru was incredibly slow and generally unable to move with any kind of speed even when she needed it. He had briefly wondered if it was because her kind just wasn't capable of being as fast as his. But then, judging by the memories, her father had never had such a giant belly that jiggle around as he moved.

Now that he think about it, how much of Naru's days are spent just eating? He had never really thought about it but he realized just how much food she constantly gave him and how he had never been able to really finish even half of it. Does she really need all that food? Does he?

Yes, it's good, especially now that the forest is healthy again. He remember biting into a new fruit after the forest healed and then thinking it was the best thing he had eaten in years. But seriously, all that food all the time?

Ori tried not to think on that so much. It's mean to think of his mom as fat. It would make her sad if she knew he thinks she's kind of slow and fat. He's a nice boy.

And then, the distance was closed and he felt her arms wrap around his frame. It's funny, in a way. He miss the feeling of absolute safety they used to give him and yet, after seeing her starve to death he... he appreciated the touch more than he ever did before. He found himself reaching to her body, wanting to feel her warmth and to know that his mom lived. That she was healthy again. And that she wouldn't be taken from him again.

"Here here, my son. Everything will be alright. Everything will be alright."

He is so happy she is alive. He don't know why Gumo looked for her and then revived her but he is glad he did. Though, given those memories in those huge underground ruins, he guessed it had to do with Naru knowing more than she let on. Why had mom never brought up Sol and Eki before? Why had Eki looked for her during the Blindness?

For now, he just enjoyed being with her. She is alive.

For a brief instant, he smiled as she lifted him on her shoulders and carried him. He cheered as she brought him off that hill and out of his gloomy thoughts, walking through the woods.

But as they walked, his gaze lifted away from the ground and settled on the trees. It was funny. He once thought nothing much of trees. They had always been just kind of there, a part of the forest. He had been told they were alive but he had kind of just accepted that point and never gave it much thought.

But now... he wondered...

Ancestral Trees are born when his kind dies, isn't it? Do trees have feelings? Can they think? That tree over there, he knows it has been there for as long as he could remember. Trees can't move. Even if mom scratch her claws on one, it cannot move. Even if monsters tear into them, they can't move. They can't move as he scrap them with his hooves or as Sein unleashed her blasts of Light.

He... doesn't like trees. He find them creepy, now. Which was a problem when the forest is made of them.

Oh, he don't find them scary like he find monsters scary. But to look at a tree and know it's like looking at a dead version of his own kind or worse yet, what he'd become if he's killed...

He like to move, he like to go fast. He like to jump. Trees can't do any of those things. What do they even do? He know Ancestral Trees contain the remnants of spirits who died. But do the Spirit Tree do anything, beside shining like a mini sun? He knows everyone say the Spirit Tree is busy but how? How can it be busy when it can't move?

The Spirit Tree... it can think. Does it feel lonely?  
  
...

It has no friends. It's just... alone in its meadow.

Sein is alone in that meadow. Trees can't talk.

"Mom? Can I go?"

Naru stopped and glanced back at him. "My baby..."

"Please, mom. I need to talk to Sein."

"Look Ori, over there." She pointed at a butterfly fluttering.

Once, he had been amazed by that. That was before he scaled Sorrow Pass, before he witnessed the ruins of Forlorn, before Sein had taken him to see such amazing things. Now, they were boring to him. He wanted to see so many things.

He sighed. "I want to go."

"My baby..."

It finally registered that she was not answering his question. "Why don't you want me to go?"

"Look, the Spirit Tree is likely busy and-"

He didn't listen. He pouted, resting his chin on his hand. He rolled his eyes and sighed. It was the same excuse as earlier. The same excuse she gave for many days, now. He now understood that it meant she didn't want him to go.

"Why don't you want me to go?"

Why does she cringe every single time she ask about much of anything? Gumo doesn't! Gumo actually answer his questions!

"I want you to be happy, Ori."

"That's not making me happy, mom!"

Yep, seems the shoulder ride time is definitely over. She started to walk back toward the cave.

"I already told you, Ori. The past won't help you. Just enjoy life and everything will be alright."

"Just like everything turned out alright before?" He shouldn't have said this. He instantly felt guilty. He made himself sad. But he couldn't ignore it anymore. So many days of this and he was tired of it. "Just keep eating and pretend nothing is wrong! Yeah, everything will turn out alright! Then the forest died. Then you died. Then... I died."

And he instantly regretted it. He shouldn't have said this. He shouldn't have. He didn't even need to look at Naru to know she would be horrified. He knew she would be. He had been a bad boy. He shouldn't think such things. He didn't want to say such things.

But everything was so slow, so dull! And he understood nothing.

"Ori, what you said wasn't nice." He knew she would say that before she even begun talking. He looked down in shame, not daring to look at her as she spoke. "What happened was nobody's fault. Do I make myself clear?"

He nodded briefly.

Well, great going Ori. You have ruined the day. Woohoo. Cheers for Ori, gloomiest boy in Nibel! It's sunny and warm and beautiful outside and he manage to ruin it by saying stupid stuff!

Back in the cave, he didn't complain or try to plead with his mom to let him outside. No. He had ruined this day and he knew perfectly he had done so.

He thought more and more of what had happened and why. Sein or the Spirit Tree, he wasn't sure which, had tried to call out to him. It had killed Kuro's family. Then Kuro tore Sein out of the Spirit Tree. Then the forest went Blind.

What if he had actually followed that light, that night? What if instead of just standing there looking at it, he had actually gone and followed it? Would Sein have blasted Nibel with such a massive amount of Light, then? Would... Kuro's family have lived?

Was... was the Blindness his fault?

Ori shivered in his corner. He didn't want to think such a thing. But it made an awful lot of sense. Sein had said that the Spirit Tree had called to him, on that fateful night. Then, when they found Kuro's nest, Sein broke down crying that it was all her fault, that she had accidentally burnt the great owl's chicks. But the Spirit Tree, or Sein, had unleashed that great blast of Light to call to him.

He had seen the Light and he had just stood there until Naru grabbed him and hid him in their cave.

Would have any of this happened if he had listened? If he had followed it?

He didn't have answers to those questions. More and more questions, getting worse and worse with each passing day.

If all of this is his fault...

Does it mean that Fil, Ano, and all the others would be alive if he had just followed when called? Would he have met them? Would they have been his friends? Would he have found his real mom and his daddy? Would mom never have starved to death?

Kuro would be alive. Kuro's family would be alive. Everyone would be alive. The forest would have never gone Blind. The monsters would have never shown up.

If that day, he had actually followed that light instead of just standing there like a complete idiot!

No. No. It couldn't be all his fault. Could it?

Mom refuse to answer. Gumo doesn't know. He doesn't know. Mom refuse to let him go see Sein and ask her! Why? Why doesn't she want him to go? What is she so scared of? Yes, her father separated her from Sol and Eki but he's no longer there to do that! So then, why?

He want to know. He can't just go to sleep. The ledge will return. The monsters will return. The razor vines will return. Kuro will try to catch him. Her claws will grip him. And he'll cry. And it will hurt. It will hurt so much. He doesn't want to sleep. He doesn't want to dream and have more nightmares. He can barely sleep!

The day passed so slowly, so very slowly. Mom brought more food. She always bring so much food. Why? Why bring so much food? He can never eat all of it! He tried it once. Never again! His belly hurt for days! He hate his belly hurting, it reminds him of the ledge.

He never want to see that ledge again. He hate it. He hate that ledge so much.

...

He used never to hate things. He hate hating things.

Oh well. Since it seems he'll be staying in the cave for the day, he decided to just relax. If he had nothing nice to say or to do, he guessed mom wouldn't get upset if he simply remained in his corner. It wasn't much fun but well, it was better than just pout all day.

"I wonder what uncle Gumo is doing." he pondered aloud.

It was funny. He sat down and he expected to pout and mull over questions all day. Now his mind is just... wandering. But then, he doesn't know how long he sat in his corner pondering things.

Looking down at his tiny body, he stared at his arms and legs briefly.

He had ran so much during the Blindness, jumped all the time, climbed things. He remember how tired he'd become, how he'd get out of breath, all those times he simply collapsed, laid down, and tried to just... let himself recover. He remembered how, as days passed by, he became less and less tired. Sein had commented that he looked a bit taller by the end, though he thinks she was saying it just to be nice.

Looking at himself, he felt the energy he just needed to use. He remembered how helpless and weak he felt, at first. He wasn't strong enough to do much and didn't have the strength to jump and climb back then. If something bad happened, will he still be able to run?

He also thought of all those heavy things he moved. The more he did it, the heavier the things he shifted became. In fact, he clearly remember his arms being skinnier than this. If he continued to become stronger, would he be able to get mom to safety should something bad happen? At the very least, he'd be able to get himself to safety. Safety is good, not becoming a tree is good.

He walked up to the middle of the empty spot at the edge of the cave. Light filtered from a grated hole in the ceiling and he saw rays of sunshine illuminate the soft grass. Good, that will be a nice spot.

He looked around for heavy things. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any convenient heavy stones or wooden planks for him to use. Sure, he could take his basket bed, fill it with fruit, and try to use that but.. eeeeh. The fruit might spill, make his bed dirty, and generally give mom a reason for being angry at him. He'd rather not make her angry, well, angrier.

Sighing, he decided to improvise. He put his hands against the ground and then, swung his body upward. He tried to keep himself balanced on his hands, feeling his own weight making his arms shake. He tried to keep himself in that position but before long, his weight caused him to lower himself, his head touching the dirt. His legs and tail dangled above, gravity gripping his frame and trying to force them back down. He closed his eyes, focusing and then, pushed against the ground as he forced himself to stand on his hands again.

Before long, the effort and grip of gravity on his body parts forced his hooves to hit the ground again.

Well, that's okay.

Putting himself on all four, he begun to push his own weight up and down, sliding his hooves as to ensure most of his weight went on his arms instead. Before long he was rewarded with a sensation of stiffness and a tingle in his muscles, the young spirit beginning to breathe a bit louder from the effort.

"Ori?"

He pushed into the ground and then, shifted himself back on his hooves. He glanced back to see Naru standing by the entrance of the cave, looking uncertain. Had he done anything wrong?

"What are you doing, my baby?"

Oh. She is simply curious. He scratched the back of his head briefly. "I'm trying to get stronger."

"Get stronger?"

He turned to face her proper, nodding.

Why is she frowning? "Everything is fine now, Ori. You don't need to be strong anymore. The forest is healthy and full of life."

He already knew that, yes. "But what if the forest become Blind again? I'll need to be strong if it happen again."

"It won't. Everything will be fine." she said, trying to smile in a way he knew to be reassuring.

"But what if it isn't? What if some bad guy appear and tear Sein out of the Spirit Tree again? Then what?"

"Ori, I know you want to be a good little boy. But you should be worried about being happy, not with protecting the forest."

"But if I don't protect the forest, who will?" Mom can't do it. She's too slow. Gumo might be agile but he clearly remember how all those stones crushed him. And well... all of the other spirits are... they are... "I'm the only one who can do it."

"You're just a child, Ori!"

"I know..." he whispered, his determination dying even as he spoke. And all of a sudden, he became self-aware of how absurd the situation was. He was a small child, literally shaking with fear from the nightmares he experienced, the scary shadows of monsters making him cry whenever he closed his eyes and yet... he wants to get stronger because he knows that if bad guys return, he'll have to face them again.

He wanted nothing but to throw himself in the arms of his mom, hoping against hope that the warmth of her arms would make the monsters go away but he knew it couldn't happen. It just couldn't.

He sat down and he sighed.

He paused, gathering his thoughts. And then, he found what he was looking for.

"Mom, I like moving. I like jumping. I like running. It was very scary and I got hurt a few times." He glanced away embarrassed, his right hand squeezing his left arm as a rather unwelcome phantom pain pierced through his nerves. "Okay, I got hurt a lot. I'll admit. But! I liked climbing trees! I liked doing all of those neat jumps! And well, I admit I got happy when I thought of how I could move things that before seemed so heavy to me! It felt amazing, you know. And well... I saw many pretty places. So, I want to stay strong. I want to stay fast. I want to be able to go to places."

"Why, my baby?"

"Because it's fun!" he said. "To feel the breeze, to scale things, to just go so fast and, and, and just know you are doing awesome things! To just move and feel the flow of the world and it's just so cool! I mean, I did some amazing things! You must understand, mom."

"No Ori, I don't." his heart-Light sunk as he heard her say that. "You fell into spikes. You got clipped by lasers. You had monsters run after you! And bite you and scratch you! That isn't fun, Ori! Nobody normal call this fun!"

He...

He didn't know what to say.

He just looked at his hooves, frills and antennas lowering. "I'm sorry, mom."

"You're still shaken from all you experienced. Please, Ori. You must rest."

"... right."

"Look at me, Ori." He did. "You are safe now. You don't need to worry about anything anymore. Everything will be fine. I know you're shaken, I know you have nightmares. But maybe... you just need rest. Time heal all wounds, after all."

Time don't heal death. But he kept that to himself. He simply nodded.

"Everything will be fine, Ori. Everything will be fine."

He guessed... there just wasn't much else to say or do at the moment. So he simply felt the warmth of her arms. She is alive right now. He is alive right now. Everything is fine right now. He guessed there just wasn't much he could do about it for now. Mom wanted him to stay put and had made it clear to him.

Still, time passed ever so slowly. After a moment, he found himself looking at the sun and reflecting once more upon so many questions that kids his age should not think about.

Some of the memories he absorbed had come from adults, some from children. All of them except one had been filled with fear, with pain, with despair. And to say the truth he... he... he felt that many had been stronger than him, faster, better. Why had they died and he had lived? Ori looked at his hooves for a moment. He didn't feel special. Why had he survived the Blindness but they had not?

Or rather, why had Sein revived him? Why not Ano, who had been so much stronger? Why not Reem, so much more agile than him? What made him so much more special than them?

He doesn't know.

Why had the Spirit Tree done nothing after Sein was taken? Why had it just sit there, watching, until starvation claimed him?

He tried to think of happier things. Of running through the forest, of all the acrobatics he did. Of how he would nail that amazing cartwheel jump and then Sein would congratulate him, brush against his fur, and tell him how proud she was of him.

What is Sein's true connection to him?

The way she spoke was so weird. What did she mean, many of those times?

He plunged deeper into his memories and shivered a bit. The sun was started to set. Soon, it did set.

Life was so slow, almost as slow as mom.

As he took his position in his basket, he found himself shivering again. He knew what was coming. Ever since the ledge, it had never stopped. He didn't want to sleep. He knew he should sleep but he didn't want to. But mom told him he needed sleep and so, he needed to.

He watched her as she laid down and closed her eyes. But he didn't join her. Rather, while still curled up in his basket, he looked through the hole in the ceiling, to the stars beyond. Why does the world grow dark, the light from the sun dipping under the horizon before finally hiding beyond the edge of the horizon? Why can't the world be bright and sunny all the time?

He remembered asking mom those questions. She didn't know the answer. She said it was simply how things are. Would Sein tell him the same thing? Sein seemed to know so many things. He want to ask her so many questions.

Even in the dark, his own body glowed. Why do spirits glow with that whole "Light" thing?

Why doesn't mom want him to talk to Sein?

He peeked over the edge of his basket, at Naru sleeping below. So much bigger than him, so soft, so warm, and so slow. Mom never wanted him to go to Sein. She yelled at him when he tried to run off.

But now that he think about it... she is so slow. And she is sleeping. She can't stop him and well, if he come back before she wake up, it wouldn't be bad, right? She'd never know why he went to speak to Sein. She also wouldn't be angry since he would come back before she'd wake up.

But wouldn't he be tired?

... no. He knows what will happen when he'll close his eyes. The shadows that edge around his eyes, waiting to close in. He doesn't want to see them. He doesn't want to feel them. He doesn't want to wake up screaming again.

He is very fast, he can likely do this. The Spirit Tree's meadow is not that far anyway. And so, he dropped from his basket, his hooves hitting the ground softly.

Slowly, he edged toward the exit of the cavern. To his displeasure he was reminded that while hooves are convenient to allow him to run for hours without his feet hurting, they had a bunch of drawbacks and among them was the inability to tiptoe his way past things. Every step was heavy despie his best efforts and he became aware that he still made significant amounts of noise each time his hooves hit the ground.

He held his breath, trying to move as gently as possible.

A groan.

He froze, glancing back. His mom shifted in her bed and then, left out a snore. He almost let out a sigh of relief but he didn't, knowing it may warn her.

He kept moving. He looked down, remembering on what parts of the ground of the cave stones were located. He didn't want to trip in the dark or worse yet, wake mom up.

One more step... one more step... almost out of the cave! The breeze coming from outside is cold, making him shiver. Good, he's close. One more...

There! The edge of the grass outside. Even better yet, the grass absorbed his step and allowed it to be quiet.

He did it! He stepped out of the cavern and into the world outside.

He slowly walked to the stone on the hill overlooking the Spirit Tree's meadow. He slowly turned to face it, gazing upon the gigantic tree. Even from this distance, Sein glowed brightly from the tree's strange cage in its branches.

Good, now all he has to do is make it there. Shouldn't be hard.

As he leaped off the cliff, he begun to jog. At first, he was simply smiling as he ran but as minutes begun to pass, his eyes begun to shift around.

He had never noticed how different the world looks during the night. Sure, the sunken glades had been dark during the Blindness but it wasn't the same. Everything seemed so.. strange. The way all the leaves seemed to stand out due to the light of the moon, the way shadows stretched and covered everything, the shades of blue and black everywhere. He could barely see anything beyond the small path that the moon, his own light, and Sein's were illuminating.

He knew the path, he had ran past it so many times but still, it felt so strange. He had never thought a place he had already visited could look so different. It was almost like a completely different world.

For a moment, he wondered if that was how Kuro had seen the world. What it looked like to her.

Before long, he found himself sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness. He knew he had to go through the spirit caverns to reach Sein...

As he left the confines of Sein's light, the foliage of trees growing too thick for the moon's light to filter through, he found himself looking over the pitch black darkness beyond the Spirit Gates that marked the caverns' entrance.

It was so dark, he couldn't see past his own weak glow. It was like an endless abyss, just waiting to swallow him. For a moment, he found himself freezing, shivering. He could imagine the soft cracking of dirt under paws as monsters surrounded him. The silent swaying of razor vine leaves and spikes in the dark.

Sein was not there. There is no light to protect him. He found that he could not bring his hoof past the stone of the spirit gate and into the unknown.

He looked up, down, left, to the right. He couldn't see anything. He swiped his hand through the dark, hoping for his light to banish this darkness but it merely swallowed it. He couldn't see a thing.

He remembered the razor vines that grew at the bottom of the large vertical shafts leading to the Spirit Tree. He didn't want to fall in them. If it were daytime, he might have been more confident but right now?

...

The Blindness is over, right? The razor vines got to have vanished, right? But then, had they? Since he woke up, mom had never brought him out of the woods where she lived. As far as he knew, Nibel past the woods could be filled with monsters.

No, they have to be gone, right? He was told that the Spirit Tree fixed everything.

He... he...

He don't want to go back. But it might be dangerous to go ahead.

...

Raging fires, giant beams of fire, spikes everywhere, monsters screaming their fury at him, a giant owl demanding he dies, raging torrents of water, and crumbling stone...

Ori's gaze narrowed and he clenched his fists, forcing his body to stop trembling. He has faced much more dangerous than this, much scarier than this. There's no way one of the safest areas in Nibel would possibly hurt him after he survived Mt.Horu.

He wants to talk to Sein. He need to talk to Sein.

He made a decisive step forward, determined and serious. Then another. Then another. And soon, he was walking forward and-

"EEP!"

Crash!

Oh right. It's a spiral staircase. Groaning, he got up and held his muzzle for a moment. He hadn't really hurt himself thankfully but it hadn't been very pleasant.

For a moment, he pondered if his life cells were still active. He had not really given it any thought but he still had them, right?

He paused and felt his own light, as Sein had taught him. His life cells were all there, still part of him. There wasn't much light in them though.

Surely that fall had not hurt that much? He had barely felt it compared to some of the horrible injuries he got during the Blindness. It wasn't that far a fall, either!

Hmmm...

Oh!

He had not taken the time to recharge them since the Blindness. Oh yeah. He had almost forgotten. He had just not thought about it.

For a moment, he shivered and he felt oddly vulnerable. What if he need them now? What if something bad happens and something big and scary try to munch on him? The life cells can't save him if they're empty! For the matter, what will he do if a monster show up without Sein to protect him?

He... didn't like the thought.

No no no. Nibel got to be safe, right? It's safe, right? He... he just tripped. That's all. No reason to worry, really! He just... tripped.

Getting back on his hooves, he dusted himself off. And for a moment, he just... stood there. For a moment, his heart-Light just pounded against his chest but as he reached out and felt the walls, he couldn't help but notice the lack of noise. There was nothing but the songs of insects in the distance and the hooting of definitely not giant or murderous owls.

Nothing is trying to kill him. Even the patch of razor vines that he remembered being at the bottom of nearly every pit, including in this place, was not there.

Everything is fine. Everything is peaceful.

Steeling his nerves, he pushed himself up the wall. He had done this so many times before, a few weeks ago. Frankly, this wall was nothing compared to all of the surfaces he had climbed back then. There weren't even any obstacles.

And as he reached the top, he saw a pale blue ray of light leaking inside, illuminating the wooden surface leading to an open stone doorway. And past that door was what he had been searching for.

Emerging from the caverns, Ori found himself overlooking a great clearing. The largest tree he had ever seen was before him, reaching so high you'd think its branches could reach into the skies. Its roots were so massive that even one of them formed a gigantic arch several times the size of the large doorway he had just crossed. Its trunk was strange, unlike almost any other tree in the forest ; the wood was veiny and oddly textured, with large cracks through which blue light could be seen glowing. Near the roots, newborn beings shaped not unlike him were sleeping. They were even smaller than him and their traits weren't actually all matching his. In fact, most of them looked more like bunnies compared to him, a point which Ori had always wondered.

In the memories he had observed, he remembered that most spirits native to Nibel tended to take on rabbit-like traits. However... he lacked those traits. He had hooves, not paws. He had no ears but instead long frills extending from his cheeks. In many ways, he was more like a cat than a bunny. He was different from the others. Why?

Looking past the sleeping spirits, he looked up. Where the trunk ended was a large cage made of claw-like, smooth branches. In a way, it reminded Ori of a dead creature's rib cage. Within, a large orb of blue light shone, even pulsating and flashing every few seconds like the heart-Light within his own chest.

Sein.

He made it. He left the confines of the doorway and walked into the clearing, starting to climb the small hill overlooking the great tree. At the summit of it was a large circular stone structure, a crystalline center piece shining in a pure, brilliant white light. One of Nibel's Spirit Wells. Remembering what Sein told him, those had been built by the ancient spirits.

He stepped on the stone platform and then, looked up at the great tree. His neck hurt a bit from looking up at the blue orb, so high up in the sky but he tried to do it anyway. And then, he cleared his throat.

...

He cleared his throat again, this time a bit louder. Still no answer, though.

"Hummm... Sein? Are you there?" he asked, quietly, suddenly uncertain. Mom did say that the Spirit Tree was awfully busy.

Looking around at how all the spirits were all so peaceful, how Sein just shone silently... he bit his lower lip, his hands trembling a bit. Mom had warned him! Warned him that the Spirit Tree was busy!

"I just... I just wanted..." he suddenly felt so tired. He could feel the light from the Spirit Tree shining all over his body, flowing from both the tree itself and from the Spirit Well on which he stood. He could feel its unease mixed with an odd sense of peace.

He realized the obvious. It's the middle of the night. The Spirit Tree must be sleeping.

"I-I'm sorry. I just wanted to know... well..." he scratched the back of his head. How could he say it? How stupid was he sounding? How stupid would it sound even if he did say it? Mom would scold him! Mom is gonna scold him!

"I know I'm not supposed to be here! I know you're busy but... but..." he hiccuped. He didn't intend to. "I can't sleep. I see the ledge every time I go to sleep. Even after the Spirit Tree is healthy again, I keep seeing the ledge every night. And I feel spikes. And Kuro keep screaming at me. Keep trying to eat me."

His knees felt weak, his entire body heavy. "Please... I'm sorry, okay?"

He felt so stupid. He was so stupid. Why did he come here? He had gone against mom's instructions and bothered the Spirit Tree when it was trying to sleep. All because he couldn't sleep. All those spirits... all of them are sleeping right. None of them are waking up crying or screaming. Nobody does that. And when they have bad dreams, they don't wake up screaming all the time.

He felt so tired. His eyes felt like they were going to close any time, now. It was so dark. He should be asleep. But... but...

"I can't sleep. I keep seeing the ledge. I keep hearing them. I keep seeing them. The bad dreams don't stop."

But Sein remained silent. And he sighed. He knew why.

He turned around and sat down, back to the Spirit Tree. Why did he come here? He should have remained at home. Mom will be angry. And he don't want to sleep on hard stone. He's sick of sleeping on grass and mud. He did that during the Blindness every night and he hated it! He miss his basket bed. He shouldn't have come here. Mom will scold him and likely make him stay indoors for a month.

But then, Kuro's hateful screams filled his ears. The snapping jaws of bad guys filled his field of vision. He knew what was coming. Ever since the ledge, he had been unable to sleep well. He had bad dreams, always.

"I... I..."

He should go back. But it's so far. He's tired. He shouldn't have done this.

"I have bad dreams all the time. I sometimes even have them when I'm awake. I just... I just..." he was breathing too quickly. He couldn't keep talking. He realized the thumping noise he heard was his heart-Light pounding against his own chest. He was losing control of his own voice, his voice pitch climbing. He hated it. He hated it so much and even more that it was happening right now. "I can't sleep. I know I shouldn't be here. I... I... just... please help me. Ple-please help-help m-me..."

He didn't intend to start crying. He hated how he just cried so much since the ledge. He was so happy before mom got hurt. Before everything got bad. Everything should be back to normal. Why did he still cry like this? And why is Sein not saying anything? She can talk! She talked all the time when she was with him! Yes, he know she's one with the Spirit Tree again and trees don't talk but he heard Sein talk before! He know she can talk!

"P-please... answer me, Sein. Pl... please..."

He didn't know what he expected. The Spirit Tree is a tree. It likely can't talk. Why did he bother?

" **ORI.** "

A deep, masculine, echoing voice rang in his head. He had never heard the voice before and yet, it felt so familiar. And as he looked upon the Spirit Tree, he recognized it. Somehow, despite sounding nothing like the high-pitched, somewhat feminine voice he had heard during the Blindness, he could instantly recognize the voice as coming from Sein.

" **WE CAN FEEL YOUR SORROW, YOUR DISTRESS. BUT YOU WILL NOT FIND WHAT YOU SEEK HERE. YOU SHOULD BE AMONG YOUR LOVED ONES. NARU IS YOUR MOTHER. WITHIN HER LOVING ARMS, YOU SHALL FIND COMFORT.** "

"Mom can't help. She tried. But she can't help.And this is all my fault. And I don't know anything. And I'm so confused. And the bad dreams don't stop! I don't want to see the ledge anymore..."

" **NONE OF THIS WAS YOUR FAULT, ORI. WE BEAR THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY FOR KURO'S RAGE. IT WAS OUR MISTAKE AND OUR MISTAKE ALONE.** "

He remember Sein saying something like that back when they found Kuro's nest and discovered what happened there. But that only confused him. Sein said the Spirit Tree called to him. Yet Sein blamed herself for what happened. Yet the voice he hear is not the same voice he heard back when Sein spoke to him during the Blindness. Who is talking to him right now? Why we and not I? He's too tired to think about this. And he doesn't want to sleep! The ledge will come back! It always come back!

" **NOW NOW, YOU SHOULDN'T BE UP THIS LATE. YOU BELONG WITH NARU, IN HER LOVING EMBRACE. YOUR LIFE SHOULD BE ONE INNOCENT LAUGHTER, WARM HUGS, AND CAREFREE GAMES.** "

He looked back upon the great tree. "I can't. I just can't."

He paused, feeling so silly but still, he carried on. "It's just... everything feels so... small. So slow. I know mom love me. She want me to stay safe. But I... I want to see the world. I want to feel the wind. And I... I..."

He admitted it. "I miss your presence."

He sighed. "I don't know what you are to me. Are you my real mom? Are you the tree or are you not? I don't know. But I... I never had a friend before. And I liked it when you were there with me."

There was a long pause. Ori noticed it. He had expected Sein to reply right away and yet, he found himself with no voice replying for a noticeably long time. And for a moment, he pondered why it took Sein such a long time to reply.

" **ARE YOU TRULY FEELING THIS WAY?** "

Ori was surprised by what Sein said. Why had it taken such a long time to simply ask him if he meant it? And of course he meant it!

"Yes." he said, holding his left arm for a moment. "Everything is just so... slow. Mom keep saying that nothing bad will happen again but... but... what if not all of the bad guys are gone? What if something goes wrong again?"

" **THEN WE SHALL TAKE CARE OF IT.** "

"But what if you can't?" he said, suddenly. "What if you end up separated from the Spirit Tree again? All I could do... all I'm good for is running away."

" **ORI... PLEASE DO NOT SAY THIS. YOU ARE A HERO. NIBEL IS IN YOUR DEBT.** "

"I couldn't save mom. I couldn't beat Kuro. All I did was run away. And in the end, all I remember was... was..." he almost froze as he felt Kuro's talons wrap around his body and squeeze. His ribs hurt for a moment. But Kuro was gone so he shook his head and focused. "I couldn't even do that correctly in the end. Kuro caught me. I know that when I woke up everybody told me I had saved Nibel but... all I remember is Kuro grabbing me and... and... and squeezing. Squeezing. And squeezing."

He gulped a bit and shook his head, shrugging it off. "But even if nothing bad happens again, everything is so slow. And I..."

He shouldn't. He shouldn't. "Are you my real mom, Sein?"

...

Why is Sein not answering?

" **ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DO THIS? WE CANNOT HOLD YOU IN AN EMBRACE OF WARM ARMS. WE CANNOT PLAY WITH YOU. WE CANNOT BE THERE IN THE FLESH TO SHOW YOU THE FOREST AND ITS WAYS. WE ARE UNSURE IF WE HAVE ANYTHING OF WORTH TO OFFER YOU.** "

"I just want to be able to sleep. And I... I miss you." Ori said slowly, allowing memories he had absorbed from the trees of his dead siblings to filter in. "I never had a friend before. It was... nice, while you were there."

There was a long pause, again. It dawned upon him that the Spirit Tree didn't have much in the way of body language.

" **YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT I AM TO THE SPIRIT TREE NOR DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE SPIRIT TREE IS TO ME?** "

  
"I don't even know what the Spirit Tree is supposed to be to me. Naru didn't tell me anything about that kind of stuff. All I know is all you told me."

" **YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE LIGHT IS, TO SPIRITKIND? WHAT THE SPIRIT TREE REPRESENT?** "

He shook his head. "Nothing outside of the fragments from my siblings' memories."

" **WE HAD JUDGED OURSELVES UNWORTHY OF BEING IN YOUR PRESENCE. AFTER ALL THE PAIN WE CAUSED THROUGH OUR NEGLIGENCE, WE BELIEVED THAT YOU WOULD BE HAPPIER WITH NARU. BUT IT IS NOW OBVIOUS THAT YOU CANNOT GO BACK TO THAT INNOCENCE.**

**IT WAS FOOLISH OF US TO EXPECT THAT YOU COULD EXPERIENCE SUCH FRIGHTENING MOMENTS AND ABSORB SO MANY MEMORIES FILLED WITH PAIN AND BE LEFT UNCHANGED. WE ARE DEEPLY SORRY. ALL WE WANTED WAS TO PROTECT THOSE WE CHERISH. INSTEAD, WE HAVE CONSISTENTLY SPREAD NOTHING BUT PAIN. AND YET, YOU GAVE EVERYTHING TO SAVE OUR LIFE AND OUR FOREST. WE DO NOT DESERVE YOUR COMPASSION, ORI.** "

And at that moment, he knew he needed to stay. He didn't understand why Sein, or the Spirit Tree, or whatever was beating themselves over this so hard but he disliked to see them in such anguish over it. He wanted to help. If anything, he wanted Sein to be happy again. He remembered her happiness, the joy in her voice as she taught him. He wanted to hear it again.

"I'm not leaving. I don't know why you keep doing this. I never blamed you for what happened. I don't know why you're doing this. I just want to be with you again. I don't even need to know what you really are. Everyone said the forest is supposed to be safe again, right? I want everyone to be happy again."

" **WE SHALL TRY.** "

Three simple words and yet, they reassured him. It was like a gigantic weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Sneaking away in the middle of the night, going through those caves blind, pleading with Sein like this... in the end, it was all worth it just for those three words.

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

Then he paused for a moment and he admit he lost his smile. "Errr... you'll do something about Naru, right? I'm not supposed to be here so I snuck out in the middle of the night."

" **WE HAD SURMISED AS SUCH. DO NOT WORRY YOUNG ORI, NARU SHALL NOT GROUND YOU.** "

Ori sighed in relief. Then his body made him know that he had stayed up a very, very long time past his bedtime by making him yawn. Try as he might, his eyelids just refused to stay up. He didn't want to sleep on hard stone, he missed his basket bed.

However, the soft light from the Spirit Tree surged through the Spirit Well and flowed around him. He felt the warmth of it, flowing on his fur like warm water, slowly allowing him to lay down. The sensations of the stone, its hard cold surface faded from his mind. Despite how bright the light was, it did not trouble him, chasing away the images and screams he had felt.

For the first time in months, he felt a flow of pleasant sensations from the light flow through him, pushing down and silencing the screams of the memories and nightmares.

For a brief instant, as his mind swam and he knew sleep was about to claim him, he thought he saw a strange spirit's figure. It was feminine and taller than any spirit he had ever seen in his life before. Somehow, it also felt oddly familiar.

Had he ever seen this spirit before?

He did not think much else, as sleep finally claimed him fully, consciousness slipping away.


End file.
